Golf Course Review of Dunstanburgh Castle Golf Club

It may have only been February when I played Dunstanburgh
Castle but I strongly suspect this will be the biggest surprise of 2015. What a
gem of a links course.

I will be honest and admit that Dunstanburgh wasn’t really
on my radar of courses to play. Mainly because it wasn’t included in the
book ‘True Links’, a publication that supposedly includes all of the genuine
links courses in the World.

Leaving Dunstanburgh out is a clear omission because
this course is not only the real deal when it comes to links golf it’s
one of the most enjoyable I’ve played.

OK, let’s get things into perspective first. It’s not going to
be hosting The Open anytime soon and Goswick, just up the coast towards Berwick
upon Tweed, is king of the links in this part of the country but Dunstanburgh,
designed by the legendary James Braid, is good and at times excellent.

There’s little doubt that this is a links course from the
moment you drive through the tiny village of Embleton and crest the hill of
the single track road that leads down to the golf course. You are faced with
rippling linksland separated from a sandy beach by large shaggy sand dunes.
The pulse quickens.

Admittedly, the opening tee-shot is less than promising but
as soon as you reach your drive and the green comes into view things start
to improve. The contouring of putting surface is superb and this is a
feature that repeats itself several times during the round. From the tee
Dunstanburgh is solid but it is the green complexes that bring the course to
life and make this Angel of the North shine brighter than most.

After the opener you play a lovely cluster of holes on
higher where the exposed, table-top par-three fourth and short par-four
fifth stand out. The latter having a wicked green where being on the wrong
side can prove extremely harmful to your score.

You return to the lower part of the course with a
descending drive at the sixth before you play along the shoreline all the
way out to the 13th with only the 11th turning back on itself momentarily.

The brilliantly undulating fairways of the seventh, eighth
and ninth are only bettered by their respective green surrounds. The one at
the eighth being as good as I’ve come across on virtually any golf course.
This trio of holes stand out on what is a very strong stretch of the course.

The tenth has a real sense of grandeur whilst the next most
definitely requires precision rather than brawn. The backdrop of
Dunstanburgh Castle, which has now grown large, occupies the skyline at the
12th whilst the short 13th, also in the shadow of the ruins, has bags of
character.

Having already played alongside the final five holes, on
your way to the far part of the course, you would be forgiven for thinking
that the closing stretch, on the inland half of the links, would be much
more pedestrian and mundane. Far from it!

Maybe it was because I played them into the teeth of a
stiffening wind but they provided a testing challenge but above all else
tons of strategy. Out-of-bounds is a feature down the left-hand-side of most
of the hole but importantly it is from this side that the best angles into
the greens are provided. The 14th, 16th and 17th are all fine holes and I’m
sure many a good score is now in the same state as the Castle that the club
is named after.

If you are a true lover of links golf you will more than
enjoy a round at Dunstanburgh Castle. Paired with a round at Goswick this
would make for a tremendous 36 hole day of links golf in an area that often
doesn’t get the true credit it deserves.